Simon Armitage: Poetry and Land in conversation with Kim Moore

Photograph of Simon Armitage taken at and kindly provided by the Lost Gardens of Heligan.

In partnership with Lancaster Arts, Litfest is delighted to welcome Poet Laureate Simon Armitage to Lancaster’s Nuffield Theatre for a special event on the theme of ‘Land’.

The evening of readings and conversation will focus on three of Simon’s publications over the last two years: two illustrated collections, Blossomise and Dwell, and his latest full collection, New Cemetery.

Blossomise celebrates spring in forms ranging from a set of haikus inspired by the Japanese blossom festival, to longer standalone lyrical pieces, while Dwell animates a series of animal dwellings that the restoration project at The Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall has created.

New Cemetery starts with the conversion of a local natural beauty spot into a municipal graveyard. From regular walks around the boundary near his moorland home in West Yorkshire, Simon Armitage chronicles the extraordinary transformation of landscape both outer and inner, drawing the reader into a parallel region of remembrance and celebration.

‘Armitage is that rare beast: a poet whose work is ambitious, accomplished and complex as well as popular’ Charlotte Runcie, Sunday Telegraph

Simon Armitage is Poet Laureate of the UK and Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds. His collections of poetry have received numerous prizes and awards. He also writes extensively for television, radio and theatre, and is the author of novels and best-selling non-fiction.

Kim Moore teaches poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University and is the author of two prize-winning collections of poetry, The Art of Falling and All the Men I Never Married. Her other books include Are You Judging Me Yet? Poetry and Everyday Sexism.